The Home advocate. (Farmerville, La.) 1885-1???, 1887-06-10
TARPON FISHING.
How Famous Florida Fish is
Caught with Shark Tackle.
4 Prolonged and Severe Struggle with the
Gamiest Of Finny Monsters,

OaI1eSt Vi 1Ouy MousIoi",1Ty
e~~
Mr.. Thomas 3. Asten OF NeldrAncc.
WHO has been recently yachting and> &
ing in Florida waters, was interview
by the Indian River News about his exf>
periencc with tarpon, the big fish OF II
la.nd OF flowers. ~ s----~
AFTER building my yacht" said Mr..
Aston. with the purpose in view of Wis
lung the west coast OF Florida to indulge
in some lively sport in fishing which we
W &c informed could only be found in that
section. NC changed our minds and In
0uccd our friend Lieut.. Hem, to join
with us in trip to the east coast and
try some of the lesser kinds Of fish, such
as bass, trout shcepshea1, snappcrs, d.
Imagine our surprise and incrcduilty
when told by the residents that the
famous tar9on was to he found in our
near vicinity. SO we decided to investi-
gate. The Grst cvcnin., VIC went to the
west side Of the river with our lines,
hooks smells, and other paraphcrnalla
to see what was to he seen. Our first
view Of the b .allties was immediately
after moonrise, when they were to be
seen scaping and flying through the air,
gambolling and playing their bright,
silvery scales giistenin" III the moon
light, affording scene that bcggars
description We undertook the task of
hooking few of them, and, after strug-
CLING for some time Intellectually, we
finally succeeded in bringing one Of them
up L s", Did iee''s--of the boat apparently ex-
haustcd; then the fun began IN earAest'
The fish seemed to realise his critical
situation. and as we failed to bring
lance or a spear with which to pierce
him, We were at sea, rs it were, with an
elephant on our hands and no means to
capture him.
The next evening we were more TOR =
tunate. We supplied ourselves with the
largest and most powerful shark hooks
made smells eighteen inches to two feet
10 length of quadruple twisted wire to
prcyent the monsters jaws from getting
away with our hooks and tackle. With
heavy lanccs with which to pierce the
fish should we catch one, VIC once more
resorted to the scene OF action. we han
learned two lcssons-that the tackle used
to catch the west coast tarpon was aoso-
lutely insufficient and had to be SUD
stitutcd by the most powerful shark
tackle. and that the p. oper time to angie
WAS bv moonlight, when they come II
the inlets and cuts to feed on the small
fisn chat abound in these places
u..,. scene that e
to i 81 ~ I - y
moonlight the glistening forms of thes
graceful and fearless creatures. As W
would cast out our lines baited witt
mullet they would be seized almost i'm
mediately, and ere we could tighten on
grasp the fish would dart to this side o
that. One moment the line would b
entirely limp and apparently empt..
when, swish, over to the right of 20,
would leap monster eight to ten feet ii
the air, shaking his wonderfully formed
head, and nine times out Of ten the hool
would e. spinning several feet away. /
strange feature of the f,h's pranks wa
his attempt to grab the hook afte
throwing it from his mouth, sometime
catching 1t before it struck the water.
''Thus the sport continued, eve
watchfu! lest the line became cntanglee
in the least with any part Of the body
Tor in that case, were the fish to take
course from the boat, the unfortunate
would run great risk of being draw
overheard or being badly lacerated. Thu
wonderful power possessed by these den
izens of the sea may be judged from thu
fact that in the capture of hundred
FOUNDER the boat containing myself and
assistant was drawn back and forth ovel
distance of two miles or more. This
means being employed to wear Out the
strength OF the fish, it is at last drawn
up to q distancc that will allow an assist
ant to spear him, and even then it requires
considerable skill to land him in the
boat while undergoing his last effort.
ana struggles. Lucky is he who sue
cccds in getting one of these varieties,
for Of all gsmy fish this is considered by
scamcn the most difficult to capture"